The first week of B.C.’s provincial election campaign was a study in contrasts in terms of travel itineraries — whereas Premier Christy Clark was working to shore up support in government-held ridings, NDP Leader Adrian Dix dropped in on high-profile Liberal territory like Abbotsford (above), the bailiwick of Finance Minister Mike de Jong.

VICTORIA — New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix launched his election campaign this week in Premier Christy Clark’s riding of Vancouver-Point Grey, a jab that was likely inspired by his political mentor Glen Clark.

The earlier premier Clark kicked off his 1996 election bid with a rally in the same riding, represented by then B.C. Liberal leader (and later premier himself) Gordon Campbell.

That Premier Clark went on to narrowly win the election, though not the seat, which stayed Liberal. Dix’s presence there Tuesday was a reflection of the expectation that if the opinion polls hold, the NDP will both win the government and unseat the premier.

On the same day as Dix was conducting his demonstration of the art of political hardball, the B.C. Liberals were fielding one of their own, and to more immediate effect.

For the Liberal party researchers had turned up some damaging, if dated, comments about aboriginal people and French Canadians by the NDP nominee in Kelowna-Mission, Dayleen Van Ryswyk.

Unlike the Liberals, the New Democrats hadn’t done their homework on her, witness not just the above-cited comments, but the one reported yesterday by Vancouver Sun columnist Craig McInnes.

“The government is nothing more than a big black hole that feeds off the working man, sucking his last penny from his hand so they can give it away freely or lose it stupidly on things like fast ferries and about a zillion other stupid things.”

This circa the 1990s, when Dix’s then boss Glen Clark was touting the fast ferries as a vision for the future. Given time, the Liberals might have had some fun with that one as well.

But the hapless Van Ryswyk was off the NDP slate within two hours of the Liberal press release, Dix having whipped up a quick batch of lemonade with the lemon he’d been dealt earlier in the day.

The Liberals, overplaying their hand as they often do, then accused Dix of hesitation: “She should have been immediately fired.”

But on that charge one thought back to the Liberal handling of the ethnic outreach scandal, when it took Christy Clark a full day to acknowledge the problem, another day to accept the resignation of her deputy chief of staff and the better part of a week to appear in the legislature in person to face questions over the fiasco.

The other point worth noting about the brief controversy was the timing. The Liberals chose to release the poisoned fruits of their research on the opening day of the campaign.

If they’d held off until after official nomination day, April 26, B.C. election rules would have prevented the New Democrats from appointing a replacement. Either they decided the dirt wouldn’t keep until then, or, more likely, they hoped for a boost on opening day to reduce the NDP lead in public opinion.

That much was suggested by the polls released on opening day — an Angus Reid survey that had the New Democrats ahead by 17 points, an Ipsos Reid survey that put the lead at 19 points.

Those gaps, however malleable they prove to be in the days ahead, went a long way toward explaining the respective opening strategies of the two major parties.

Clark spent a significant amount of her time campaigning in areas that usually elect Liberals, including Chilliwack, Kamloops, Prince George and the Peace River country.

I was particularly struck by her decision to pay an early visit to the Peace because the Liberals won the region’s two seats handily in the last three elections.

But there was Jack Weisgerber, the former three-term MLA for Peace South and now a government supporter, telling reporter Jas Johal of Global TV that the Liberals face a tough fight in the region this time out.

While Clark was trying to shore up support in government-held ridings, Dix was roaming freely through high-profile territory that could change hands if the opinion polls remain in his favour.

Apart from the premier’s riding, he dropped in on the Abbotsford bailiwick of Finance Minister Mike de Jong, on Comox, currently held by Education Minister Don McRae, and on Vancouver-Langara, where Social Development minister Moira Stilwell is seeking re-election.

McRae tried to turn the tables on the strategy by showing up for the Dix event in his riding, which had New Democrats joking that the Liberals were reduced to crashing their events as the only way to meet a crowd of happy British Columbians.

The Liberals, for their part, were wishing all voters could see the Dix interview with reporter Rob Brown, aired Thursday on CTV: Brown asking how the NDP intends to spend the $300 million they are taking out of the Liberal education fund, Dix ducking the question and looking chippy while he does it.

I’ve seen that side of Dix in scrums before but not of late. If it surfaces again, that could but trouble for the New Democrats.

But at this point the offending interview was a mere snapshot of a campaign in progress, like others taken during the week, opinion polls included. String them together and you’ve got a narrative for the election. But we’ll only know which ones counted and which ones didn’t after the votes are cast on May 14.

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